Keys and superkeys

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L

Timo Grossenbacher
Data Journalist
The current database model

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

The database model with primary keys

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

What is a key?
A ribute(s) that identify a record uniquely

As long as a ributes can be removed: superkey

If no more a ributes can be removed: minimal superkey or key

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

 license_no | serial_no | make | model | year
-------------------+-----------+------------+---------+------
Texas ABC-739 | A69352 | Ford | Mustang | 2
Florida TVP-347 | B43696 | Oldsmobile | Cutlass | 5
New York MPO-22 | X83554 | Oldsmobile | Delta | 1
California 432-TFY | C43742 | Mercedes | 190-D | 99
California RSK-629 | Y82935 | Toyota | Camry | 4
Texas RSK-629 | U028365 | Jaguar | XJS | 4

SK1 = {license_no, serial_no, make, model, year}

SK2 = {license_no, serial_no, make, model}

SK3 = {make, model, year}, SK4 = {license_no, serial_no}, SKi, ..., SKn

Adapted from Elmasri, Navathe (2011): Fundamentals of Database Systems, 6th Ed., Pearson

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

 license_no | serial_no | make | model | year
-------------------+-----------+------------+---------+------
Texas ABC-739 | A69352 | Ford | Mustang | 2
Florida TVP-347 | B43696 | Oldsmobile | Cutlass | 5
New York MPO-22 | X83554 | Oldsmobile | Delta | 1
California 432-TFY | C43742 | Mercedes | 190-D | 99
California RSK-629 | Y82935 | Toyota | Camry | 4
Texas RSK-629 | U028365 | Jaguar | XJS | 4

K1 = {license_no}; K2 = {serial_no}; K3 = {model}; K4 = {make, year}

K1 to 3 only consist of one a ribute

Removing either "make" or "year" from K4 would result in duplicates

Only one candidate key can be the chosen key

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

 Let's discover some
keys!
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
 Primary keys
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L

Timo Grossenbacher
Data Journalist
Primary keys
One primary key per database table, chosen from candidate keys

Uniquely identi es records, e.g. for referencing in other tables

Unique and not-null constraints both apply

Primary keys are time-invariant: choose columns wisely!

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

Specifying primary keys
CREATE TABLE products ( CREATE TABLE example (
product_no integer UNIQUE NOT NULL, a integer,
name text, b integer,
price numeric c integer,
); PRIMARY KEY (a, c)
CREATE TABLE products ( );
product_no integer PRIMARY KEY,
name text,
price numeric
);

Taken from the PostgreSQL documentation.

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

Specifying primary keys (contd.)
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD CONSTRAINT some_name PRIMARY KEY (column_name)

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
 Let's practice!
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
 Surrogate keys
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L

Timo Grossenbacher
Data Journalist
Surrogate keys
Primary keys should be built from as few columns as possible

Primary keys should never change over time

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

 license_no | serial_no | make | model | color
-------------------+-----------+------------+---------+------
Texas ABC-739 | A69352 | Ford | Mustang | blue
Florida TVP-347 | B43696 | Oldsmobile | Cutlass | black
New York MPO-22 | X83554 | Oldsmobile | Delta | silver
California 432-TFY | C43742 | Mercedes | 190-D | champagne
California RSK-629 | Y82935 | Toyota | Camry | red
Texas RSK-629 | U028365 | Jaguar | XJS | blue

make | model | color

-----------+---------+------
Ford | Mustang | blue
Oldsmobile | Cutlass | black
Oldsmobile | Delta | silver
Mercedes | 190-D | champagne
Toyota | Camry | red
Jaguar | XJS | blue

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

Adding a surrogate key with serial data type
ALTER TABLE cars
ADD COLUMN id serial PRIMARY KEY;
INSERT INTO cars
VALUES ('Volkswagen', 'Blitz', 'black');

make | model | color | id

----------+---------+-------------+-------------
Ford | Mustang | blue | 1
Oldsmobile | Cutlass | black | 2
Oldsmobile | Delta | silver | 3
Mercedes | 190-D | champagne | 4
Toyota | Camry | red | 5
Jaguar | XJS | blue | 6
Volkswagen | Blitz | black | 7

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

Adding a surrogate key with serial data type (contd.)
INSERT INTO cars
VALUES ('Opel', 'Astra', 'green', 1);

duplicate key value violates unique constraint "id_pkey"

DETAIL: Key (id)=(1) already exists.

"id" uniquely identi es records in the table – useful for referencing!

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

Another type of surrogate key
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD COLUMN column_c varchar(256);

UPDATE table_name
SET column_c = CONCAT(column_a, column_b);
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY (column_c);

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL

INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
 Let's try this!
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